(CNN) -- A severe drought is spreading across the
Midwest this summer, resulting in some of the worst conditions in
decades and leaving more than a thousand counties designated as natural
disaster areas, authorities said.

Farmers in the region are
suffering, with pastures for livestock and fields of crops becoming
increasingly parched during June, according to the National Climatic Data Center. Many areas in the southern Midwest are reporting the poorest conditions for June since 1988.

As of Tuesday, about 61%
of the contiguous United States (excluding Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto
Rico) was experiencing drought conditions, the highest percentage in the
12-year record of the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Penn State University released the findings of an
internal investigation led by former FBI director Louis Freeh. The
investigation was to determine who knew what, when they knew, and what
they did with the knowledge that former assistant football coach Jerry
Sandusky was sexually abusing children both on and off the campus.
Sandusky was convicted of 45 criminal counts last month and is awaiting
sentencing, and the coach who, according to the report, knew about it passed away earlier this year.

Some of the key findings of the Freeh's report (per ESPN.com):
• Paterno and others showed "callous and shocking disregard for child victims." • Evidence shows Paterno, Spanier, Schultz and Curley did know of 1998 investigation and Paterno "failed to take any action." • Penn State "concealed critical facts ... in order to avoid the consequences of bad publicity." • Penn State changed its plan and did not alert authorities of Sandusky's alleged actions after consulting with Paterno. • Penn State failed to adhere to federal law requiring collecting and reporting crimes such as Sandusky committed.
I
wrote about the incident asking, "How Should We Remember Joe Paterno." I
received tweets, comments, and even a couple of postal letters of
complaint that I was rushing to judgement. But, I think that this is a
big issue-- and institutions, colleges, and churches need to do more.
Paterno did not and you should not make that tragic mistake. Children
matter.
In that article, published yesterday's report came out, I wrote:

Coach
Paterno reported the abuse to his supervisors-- but he did not do
enough. Coach Paterno understood and said, "It is one of the great
sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done
more."...

Simply passing the collection plate during Sunday
services in order to help meet the budget was not good enough for the
leaders of a small church in Mississippi.

So two years ago, the
pastor and leaders of Traceway Baptist Church in Clinton began to pray
about how to better serve their community. After two months of praying
and fasting, they decided they needed to take all of their
congregation's tithes and offerings and give it to those in need for an
entire year.

"At the end of 2009 our leadership was praying and
trying to figure out how we could better represent Jesus Christ in our
community," Pastor John Richardson told The Christian Post.
"Essentially, our prayer was 'God, what can we do so that when people
look at us they will see you?'

"The more we prayed the more we
felt like God was saying, 'If you want to show me to the communities,
then become generous because I am generous,'" Richardson explained. "The
way that we interpreted that was that we were to give away all our
tithes and offerings for an entire year."
Just 50 people, many of
them transient in nature, regularly attend the six-year-old Traceway
Baptist Church. Yet, from April 2010 to April 2011, the church was able
to give away $60,000 to people in the community that were hurting in
many ways, said Richardson, who has written a book on the story and
subject of generosity called Giving Away the Collection Plate (June 2012).

"Everything
that was given to our church in the offering plates was given away to
abused mothers that got out of bad situations basically with the clothes
on their backs, or people that were trying to break free from
addiction, or people that had lost jobs or facing foreclosures, or had
extreme medical bills, or anything like that," he said.

Islamist militants have claimed responsibility for the deaths of more
than 50 people in north-central Nigeria – and called on the country’s
Christians to convert to Islam.
Boko Haram spokesman Abu Qaqa, issued a statement that the Islamist
group carried out the attacks on more than a dozen villages last weekend
and said it will continue to attack the country’s Christians.

According to the statement: “Christians in Nigeria should accept Islam, that is true religion, or they will never have peace.

“We do not regard them as trusted Christians as some illiterates are
campaigning because it was Christians that first declared war on Muslims
with the support of government.”
Violence in Plateau state last weekend was blamed on members of the
predominantly Muslim Fulani ethnic group, which attacked Christian
tribes in the region in March 2010 due to political and social tensions.

According to a Red Cross statement issued late 1 July, aid workers
counted 58 dead – but other estimates place the number higher. Press
Trust of India reporters stationed in the capital Abuja stated that 135
people were killed.

"These bishops stand within the mainstream of the thriving
global Anglican Communion, rather than the loud voices of rapidly
drifting Episcopal Church officials." -- Jeff Walton, Director of IRD's
Anglican Action Program
Contact: Bart Gingerich, Institute on Religion and Democracy, 202-682-4131, bgingerich@theird.org
WASHINGTON, July 11, 2012 /Christian Newswire/
-- Twelve traditionalist Episcopal Church bishops have released a
statement today dissenting from the actions of the 1.9 million-member
U.S.-based church after officials at the governing General Convention
certified a "provisional" rite for the blessing of same-sex unions.
"We believe that the Scriptures clearly teach that God's vision for
sexual intimacy is that it be exercised only within the context of
marriage between a man and a woman," the statement reads in part. The
minority report states that the bishops took an oath at ordination
declaring scripture "to be the Word of God, and to contain all things
necessary to salvation."

The dissenting bishops name the new liturgy as "for all practical purposes same-sex marriage."

"We
believe that the rite subverts the teaching of the Book of Common
Prayer, places The Episcopal Church outside the mainstream of Christian
faith and practice, and creates further distance between this Church and
the Anglican Communion along with other Christian churches," the twelve
bishops write. The worldwide Anglican Communion has repeatedly asked
the Episcopal Church not to proceed with same-sex blessing rites.

Jeff Walton, Director of IRD's Anglican Action program, commented:

"Jesus Christ calls his followers to be salt and light amidst a
culture of chaos. These twelve bishops have stood fast for the truth of
the scriptures, even as they are maligned as perpetuators of injustice.

"Rather
than conform to prevailing societal trends and label it 'prophetic',
these bishops have chosen to stand up for the revealed word of God and
consistent teaching for 2,000 years that marriage points beyond itself
to the 'mystery of the union of Christ and his Church.'

"These
bishops stand within the mainstream of the thriving global Anglican
Communion, rather than the loud voices of rapidly drifting Episcopal
Church officials."

Editor’s Note: This is a crosspost from Beliefnet.com. It was composed by Rob Kerby, Senior Editor, Beliefnet.
The headlines coming out of the Episcopal Church’s annual U.S.
convention are stunning — endorsement of cross-dressing clergy, blessing
same-sex marriage, the sale of their headquarters since they can’t
afford to maintain it.

Somehow slipping out of the headlines is a harsh reality that the
denomination has been deserted in droves by an angry or ambivalent
membership. Six prominent bishops are ready to take their large dioceses
out of the American church and align with conservative Anglican groups
in Africa and South America.

“An interesting moment came at a press conference on Saturday,” reports convention attendee David Virtue, “when
I asked Bonnie Anderson, president of the House of Deputies, if she saw
the irony in that the House of Deputies would like to see the Church
Center at 815 2nd Avenue, New York, sold (it has a $37.5 million
mortgage debt and needs $8.5 million to maintain yearly) while at the
same time the national church spent $18 million litigating for
properties, many of which will lie fallow at the end of the day.”

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JMC Ministries is the founder of Eternal Flame News. We report the hot topics that effect Christians today in their daily walk with Christ. So we can inform them of what is happening in our world today and how we can make a difference to change the path our world is on.

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